Ruminating on ideas in and around the intersection of Christianity and Doctor Who

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Episode: Kill The Moon (Series 8)

If one were to look at the Kill The
Moon episode through a Christian lens, their immediate read might be about the
sanctity of life, specifically unborn life. We could talk about abortion and
the value of every unique life and equate it to Christian morals and ethics.
However, I’m more interested in another aspect of this episode. I want to look
at the tension that is built up in the relationship between the 12th Doctor and
Clara.

In the episode, the Doctor, Clara,
and Courtney (one of Clara’s students) travel to the moon in the near future.
They land inside a shuttle just as it roughly lands onto the moon. The shuttle
is carrying nuclear bombs along with its crew, who was sent there to destroy
the moon. The moon has put on weight and it wreaking havoc upon Earth’s
gravitational field and causing massive tides. They all soon discover that the
moon is actually a giant egg with a growing baby creature inside and it’s about
to hatch. They are faced with a choice, to blow up the moon to kill the baby
creature or let it hatch. Both options have their risks. Clara advocates for
the life of the baby, while Captain Lundvik is set on killing the baby in hopes
to save those on Earth. With little time to spare, they have to decide what to
do. Clara turns to the Doctor for advice, but the Doctor chooses to remove
himself from the situation. He says there are tiny moments when big things are
decided and he can’t always see the outcome.
He tells Clara, that the Earth isn’t his home and that he can’t make the
decision, she does. In a snide remark, the Doctor tells Clara it’s time to take
the stabilizers off her bike. Clara is extremely offended and hurt by his
remark and subsequent departure.

In our relationship with God we have
a choice to make, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior or to not. God gave us
freewill and choice, so he can’t force us to choose. Even though He may
orchestrate events in our lives to reveal certain truths for us to base our
decision on, it’s still up to us. Our initial choice to follow Jesus may
outwardly or even at the moment seem as a little act, but it’s one of the
biggest most important choices we can make in our lives.

I’m going to talk about the time when
the Doctor leaves and equate it to those times when God is silent. When we feel
alone and have to make a choice. We can try to figure out the decision
logically, listing pros and cons, or getting multiple opinions, but in the end
it’s still up to our gut choice and us. As in Clara’s last minute choice to not
kill the baby, regardless of Earth’s choice to kill it. I would bet that Clara
had already made up her mind on her choice even before asking the people of the
Earth to choose. As soon as Clara makes the choice the Doctor materializes in
his TARDIS and teleports them to back on to Earth to watch the hatching. The
Doctor reveals that Clara’s choice was the right one and amongst the biggest
ones to have been made in all of humanity. The baby creature is born and is
beautiful. It doesn’t destroy Earth, it just flies off and leaves a new egg in
its place. The incident brings hope to the people of Earth. They saw something
wonderful in the blackness and didn’t want to destroy it. Humanity strives
upward and starts to travel to space and endures till the end of time.

Afterward, Clara expresses her anger
towards the Doctor. She yells at him in the TARDIS with heated words and tears
in her eyes. I can’t help but think about my young self and my prayers. I was
so mad at God for his silence. I empathized with Clara when she told the Doctor
to go away and not come back. I think about how I walked away from faith
because I felt like God had left me when I needed him most. Anger is a strong
emotion and can cloud our judgment. Just as Danny Pink told Clara, she is not
actually done with the Doctor because she is still angry with him. That she
should calm down and see if she can say it then. I think too often when I
confessed my non-belief in God, there was anger residing within. It was never a
calm profession.

In the following episode, Mummy on the Orient Express, Clara
decides to have one last hurrah with the Doctor. While on the trip, Clara gets
trapped in a room with another lady and confessed that she hated the Doctor for
weeks. The lady replies with a rather insightful truth that hatred is too
strong of an emotion to waste on someone you don’t like. I ignored the fact
that I couldn’t call myself an atheist if I hated a God I didn’t believe in.
Even in my doubt and disbelief I think I knew in my heart God was still there.
Just as Clara couldn’t stay away from adventures with the Doctor, I too
eventually returned to God. Granted my return was less simple and emotionally
messier then Clara’s return, but nonetheless. Anger is a human emotion given to
us by God and even when we are mad at Him he can use it to somehow bring us
back to Him. He truly is all-knowing and worthy of praise!